SLO County Jail inmate died of natural causes, coroner rules

Russell Alan Hammer, 62, was in San Luis Obispo County Jail awaiting mental health reports in his domestic violence case when he died in jail custody in November. San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office

Russell Alan Hammer, 62, was in San Luis Obispo County Jail awaiting mental health reports in his domestic violence case when he died in jail custody in November. San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office

A San Luis Obispo County Jail inmate who died in November died from natural causes, and no traces of drugs or alcohol were found in his system, a Sheriff-Coroner’s Office report released Wednesday confirmed.

Russell Alan Hammer, 62, of Hanford died November 27, 2017, after complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath. He became unresponsive as jail staff were wheeling him to the jail medical facility, according to the official autopsy report released by Sheriff’s officials.

Hammer was the third inmate to die in the jail in 2017 and the 12th inmate to die in Sheriff’s Office custody since January 2012. With Hammer’s death, the jail’s inmate death rate in 2017 was nearly three times the most recent national average recorded in 2014.

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The jail is the subject of a civil rights investigation by the FBI, which officially began in May. An FBI spokesperson was not immediately available for comment on the status of that investigation early Wednesday.

According to an autopsy report written by Detective Coroner Rory Linn, he and Carter reported to the jail to investigate the death and found Hammer lying on the concrete floor in a walkway between I Deck and O Deck. He was hooked up to an oxygen machine, intravenous fluids and defibrillator pads, the report says.

Linn wrote that there were no signs of external trauma.

During the transport in a wheelchair, the decedent became unresponsive.

Autopsy report written by SLO Sheriff’s Detective Coroner Rory Linn

Jail staff reportedly told Linn that Hammer contacted them from his single-person cell saying he was short of breath.

“Medical staff was immediately notified and jail staff began transporting the decedent to the medical facility at the jail,” the report reads. “During the transport in a wheelchair, the decedent became unresponsive.”

Linn wrote that after life-saving efforts failed, staff examined Hammer’s cell, finding no evidence of drug use, foul play or criminal activity.

Hammer’s autopsy was performed the next day, with Carter finding congestion in the pulmonary lobes of Hammer’s lungs and blood clots within dilated veins in his calf, according to the report. Linn wrote that aggravating factors included Hammer’s peripheral vascular disease and cellulitis in his left calf.

Hammer, who was initially housed in a dorm with other inmates after being booked on assault charges, was eventually moved into a single cell “for mental health concerns,” Linn wrote. The Tribune previously reported that court records show Hammer was accused of stabbing his wife with a butcher knife and charged Nov. 8 with corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and assault with a deadly weapon, both felonies.

Records show he was in the care of San Luis Obispo County Mental Health from at least Nov. 8 until Nov. 13, when his attorney declared a doubt of his mental competency to stand trial. A Superior Court judge suspended his criminal case and appointed two forensic psychologists to perform psychiatric evaluations. Hammer was due back in court in December for review of doctors’ findings.

His death is the latest in a series of deaths that have brought attention to questionable treatment of inmates with mental and medical health needs by jail and county health staff. In July 2017, the county awarded $5 million to the family of former inmate Andrew Holland, a mentally ill Atascadero man who died after being held in a restraint chair for nearly two days.

The parents of Andrew Holland, who died in custody at the San Luis Obispo County Jail on Jan. 22, 2017, led a candlelight vigil and march Monday — a year after the 36-year-old man's death. “We’ve got a lot of warriors here,” Carty Holland said. An

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The county has implemented a host of policy reforms for mentally ill inmates and is separately awaiting results of a review by a third-party consultant tasked with providing other recommended changes. Results of that review are expected within the coming months. A request for proposals to contract outside medical and mental health services at the jail is also expected to be released early this year.

The jail is expecting to open its newly constructed medical facility building in May.

Attorney Paula Canny talks about the circumstances surrounding Andrew Holland's death in San Luis Obispo County Jail. Holland died of an embolism Jan. 22 after spending 46 hours strapped to a restraint chair.

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In-custody deaths at the SLO County Jail, 2012-17

The following people died while in custody of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office since January 2012.